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ABS

ABS stands for Anti-lock Braking System. This is a feature present in most cars today and comes into action when the wheels appear to lock up while braking. When the brakes in a vehicle that is travelling at a high speed and on a slippery surface are applied, the vehicle tends to get out of control. With ABS, the car will stay in control and even professional drivers find ABS more useful. It uses speed sensors, a control unit and a computerized control module which acts as the control center.

The main problem when skidding on a slippery surface is that the skidding wheel has less traction as compared to a wheel which is not skidding. When we are in a situation where the car seems to go out of control, we impulsively step on the brakes as hard as we can. This is the reason that causes the brakes to lock up. ABS uses different sensors and controls the braking force, though the driver is just firmly stepping on the brakes. A thing to note is that the driver should not pump the brakes. There is a certain speed of the rotating tyres relative to the speed of a vehicle when the maximum braking force is achieved. ABS senses this and does the "pumping" job for the driver. It tries to keep the speed closest to the optimal speed so as to achieve the maximum braking force. Many times people who have ABS in their vehicles commit the folly of pumping the brakes when they should simply be pressing the brakes. The job of pumping is done by the electronics installed i.e ABS.

ABS was initially developed for aircrafts in the 1920s since it was observed that the tyres could not withstand normal breaking due to the heavy load and speed when landing. In 1975, Robert Bosch built the prototype for the ABS systems we see today and had many patents related to this under his company's name. One of the first ABS systems was seen on the 1971 Chrysler Imperial and was truly computerized. This model was quite successful and the ABS functioned as intended. In the case of two-wheelers, BMW in 1988 was the first manufacturer to offer ABS on its K100. Honda soon followed suit in 1992 with the ST1100 Pan European.

Nowadays, manufacturers offer both rear-wheel ABS and four-wheel ABS. The difference is that rear-wheel ABS does not allow traction control for the front tyres, so there is a possibility that your front tyres may get locked up. But with four-wheel ABS, none of your tyres will get locked up and you can even try to steer around any obstacles in your way. In a rear-wheel drive this is not at all possible. But with rear-wheel drive, the driver has to be careful not to steer the wheel suddenly when applying heavy brakes. This can be counter-productive. The steering wheel should be handled in the same way as before, i.e no sudden jerks.

ABS has improved the chances of getting involved and hurt in an accident to a certain extent. But, what people tend to take it as an excuse to drive fast and rashly. ABS is only present to improve your chances, not give you the freedom to do what you want on the road. Drive safely and responsibly.